


Beneath the Mask

by Jevil_Joss



Category: RWBY
Genre: Chessmaster Villain, Evil Ruby Rose, Gen, Grief, Parallel Universe, Takes Place During V2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22284379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jevil_Joss/pseuds/Jevil_Joss
Summary: Team RWBY finds out about alternate universes...as well as the monsters that live in them.
Kudos: 4





	Beneath the Mask

**Author's Note:**

> This work is set in the same continuity as 'Trapped'. Reading that fic is not necessary for this one to make sense. Anything that needs to be explained is explained in this one.

Ruby frowned. She put a hand on her hip, looking Coco and Velvet up and down. coco's outfit consisted of a black jacket, missing one sleeve and barring her midriff, and jeans. Her sunglasses were pushed up high on her face. Velvet looked awkwardly at the other. She wore something more like what Ruby knew her to wear, but black and gold. And she only had one ear. 

"What's going on?" Yang demanded. "Why...what..."

"I'm gonna stop you right there," Coco said. "C'mon." She stepped over, setting an extra-large handbag on the ground and sitting on a bench. "This is gonna take a minute to explain."

"Time travel?" Weiss asked. "I...hesitate to suggest it..."

"Hell no," Coco said. "Don't even suggest it. I don't want to even _think_ about how time travel works."

"It's actually considerably less complicated," Velvet said, leaning against Coco's bench. "You know the universe, right? Remnant, and the sky above, all the stars in the sky. We are the Velvet and Coco from another world. A different Remnant."

"It is simple when you put it like that," an unfamiliar voice cut in. A man in a nondescript gray trenchcoat and bowler hat stepped over, a sword sheathed at his side, next to a revolver. "It's actually pretty complicated."

"What are you doing here?" Blake asked, hand still on her sword. 

"Nothing bad," Velvet said hurriedly.

"We work for Ravenwing. They're the interdimensional police--and yes, I'm as tired of explaining this as I sound," Coco added. "We're hunting a murderer."

"Oh! Like Roman Torchwick?" Ruby said hopefully. 

"No. Roman Torchwick is from this world," the man in the coat said. "Ravenwing's job is specifically to deal with world-hopping villains like the Night Haunt."

"Really?" Yang said, folding her arms over her chest. 

"Well, if we went around arresting everyone we thought was bad, we'd become...exactly what we're trying to stop." The man in the coat shrugged. "We tried being the heroes a while back, with Project Goldenclaw. But, uh...that didn't go over well."

"What happened?" Blake asked. 

"Aren't you the curious little Huntress," the man said, leaning over and flicking Blake's forehead. She glared passionately at him, clearly angry. "The aforementioned Night Haunt led them around and played them like a fiddle, killed one of the people in charge, and massacred them."

"Leave her alone, Star," Velvet said firmly. "In any case, Goldenclaw failed, and...well, we had to go back to being cops instead of heroes." She grimaced.

"We are heroes--just not in the traditional sense," Star said. Something beeped, and he pulled out a scroll-like device. "Ah. That would be her."

"Who is this Night Haunt person? They sound tough," Ruby asked. 

Coco leaned forward, and poked Ruby's nose, saying, "As Nora would put it, 'boop'."

"Wait. The Night Haunt is an evil me?" Ruby blurted out. 

"No one knows how to beat heroes like a fallen hero," Star replied. "Come on. We need to go get her."

"We can help!" Ruby said, running up beside Star as he started following her. 

"That depends. So long as you and your team are fast on your feet and able to be sneaky, you might survive the encounter," Star said. "The Night Haunt is terrifying, girls. She's killed lots of people and would easily kill a lot more."

"If a world-hopping murderer is here, we need to help stop her," Weiss interrupted. 

"You can come, but I can't guarantee your safety," Star replied, hand on his sword hilt. 

"I thought we couldn't track her," Coco grumbled as she caught up with them. 

"Yeah, but she isn't invisible," Star said. "People still see her, and report her, and _that's_ what we track."

Pyrrha held up the rose in front of her, sniffing it, thinking. Jaune stood in front of her, looking confused. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?" he said with his awkward chuckle. 

Pyrrha took a deep breath, then opened her mouth to speak. Right when several gunshots rang out. Windows of an apartment building above them shattered, and Jaune ducked down low, hands over his head as the glass rained down on them. Pyrrha tossed the rose aside, pulling out a scroll and calling their lockers. The rocket lockers landed just behind her, and she grabbed Milo and Akouo from it, as Jaune pulled out Crocea Mors. With a nod, Pyrrha followed Jaune into the apartment. The clerk at the counter was ducked down, then looked up at them as they entered. "Call the cops," Pyrrha told him before following Jaune up the staircase. 

"Where are we going?" Jaune suddenly asked. "We don't know what floor that came from..."

"Fourth," Pyrrha said. Jaune looked at her, and, with a slight blush, she added, "I...counted while outside." 

Pyrrha kicked open the door, entering a long hallway lined with rooms. Every single door was open. The window at the end of the hallway was shattered, and a cloaked figure stood in front of it. 

"Freeze!" Jaune cried, pointing his sword heroically at the figure. 

Ruby turned and gave him a condescending look. 

"Oh! Didn't realize it was you," Jaune said, lowering his sword. "Did you see the attacker? We heard the shot..."

Pyrrha frowned as she noticed something. "That's...a new sword." A broadsword, made of jagged red crystal. In addition, Pyrrha noted her hair wasn't combed and there was an eye insignia on her sleeve. A strange eye insignia. 

"It's also a gun," Ruby said coldly. 

"Is something wrong?" Jaune asked hesitantly. At that moment, someone crawled out from their hiding spot. Ruby pulled out the broadsword, and the blade flipped down, extending a gun's barrel. Ruby shot the civilian. His skin cracked, the cracks glowing red, and a look of intense pain split his face for a brief second before his body turned into a red smoke, which coiled around and disappeared into a watch Ruby wore around her sword arm. She checked it and smiled, looking back to Jaune. "No. Not really." Her skin turned a pale white, her eyes red, and several red veins appeared in her face. 

"I don't think that's Ruby," Pyrrha said quietly. 

"You're only half right, Pyrrha," came the reply. "But I fully intend to kill you now, so, what's the point of explaining it?" She pointed her gun at Pyrrha and fired. Pyrrha blocked with her shield, and the bullet bounced off, hitting the ground, sizzling with red lightning crackling around it. Ruby--if it was her--immediately gritted her teeth, taking out an ammo cartridge from the sword and replacing it with another one. Lightning Dust. Then she put on a mask. 

It was a Grimm mask. It had only a single eye hole, in the center of the head, with four red lines coming from the sides and pointing towards the eyes. Three lines, curved slightly upward, were painted onto each cheek. The mask perfectly covered Ruby's face. 

Pyrrha fired several shots off, but Ruby blocked with her sword, letting the bullets reflect and hit the walls. Plaster shot into the air, crumbling to the ground as Ruby charged forward, cartwheeling and slashing at Pyrrha. The sword grated against her shield as Ruby flipped over the shield and landed behind Pyrrha, trying to stab her in the back. Jaune leapt in the way, blocking with his shield. He stumbled back beneath the blow, but regained his footing and slashed at Ruby. Ruby leaned back, then kicked upwards at Jaune's chest. Jaune found himself knocked into Pyrrha, and the two tumbled away. Pyrrha was the first one on her feet, and blocked Ruby's sword as she had already leapt in to attack. Pyrrha blocked, then found Ruby leaning all her strength into pushing past Pyrrha's block. Ruby put her other hand on the back of her sword, shoving harder against Pyrrha. Pyrrha steadied her feet, helping ground herself by pushing on the spear with her Semblance. Jaune stepped in, shoving his sword against Ruby as well. Ruby found herself slowly pushed backwards, then pushed a button on her sword. The blade bent backwards, turning into a scimitar, and then the handle extended into a full scythe. Ruby was pushed backwards into the air, and fired, using the recoil to propel herself over their heads. She pushed her feet off the roof, landing in between her and Jaune, and rammed Pyrrha with the hilt of her scythe. Pyrrha hit the wall as Ruby attacked Jaune. The blade bit into his shield, damaging the metal as he found himself pinned against the wall, staring at Ruby's mask. At the spur of the moment, he head-butted Ruby. Luckily, his Aura held, but Ruby's mask cracked down the middle. She staggered back, where Pyrrha knocked her over with a leg sweep and slammed her shield into Ruby's stomach. Ruby hit the ground, groaning, then back flipped away with a flurry of rose petals as Pyrrha stabbed her spear into the ground. She only hit Ruby's mask, which had fallen off. 

Ruby looked furious. Then, a sly grin split her face as she pulled out another thing of Dust. Gravity Dust? She looked from the ammo to her gun, and threw the Dust at Pyrrha. Pyrrha blocked it with her shield, and the Dust bounced off, exploding against the ceiling. The roof collapsed, and Pyrrha thrust her hands into the air, catching the falling rubble by the metal beams. 

Ruby shot her in the leg. Pyrrha's unarmored leg, while her Aura had been down for a split second. She fell to one knee, crying out in pain, then barely managed to get her Aura up in time for the collision. Pyrrha found herself buried under a pile of stone and metal beams. 

"Pyrrha!" Jaune cried out. He then quickly raised his shield to block another bullet from Ruby. Ruby fired a few more times, Jaune blocking bullets. 

Pyrrha struggled, pulling her hand free of a piece of rubble. Then, she grabbed her scroll and dialed. "Yang, Ruby, Blake, Ren, _anyone!_ We need help! Evil Ruby is attacking us! On the corner of seventh street!" The scroll was shot out of her hands. 

"Oh, man," Ruby cackled, thumping a hand to her head. "Now I don't even have to fake a distress call. Man, you sure are stupid."

"You set a trap?" Jaune cried. He pulled out his scroll, but Ruby shot it too. 

"Oopsie," Ruby said with a smug smile, putting one hand over her mouth. "I broke it." She laughed. 

Jaune raised his sword. He lunged forward, swinging his sword for Ruby. Ruby casually blocked with her scythe, grinning. She kicked at him, hitting his shield and knocking him backwards. She spun, slashing with her scythe as she rushed past him. He blocked and turned to keep track of her as her scythe hooked over his shield and pulled it from his grasp. She casually threw the shield aside. Then, she pushed a button that knocked out the lightning Dust. She pulled out another ammo cartridge. This one had the eye insignia on it--the same one on her sleeve. Ruby loaded it into the weapon. 

"Hey, what kind of Dust is that?"

"The death kind," Ruby said dryly. Red electricity ran through the blade. 

Jaune backed away, sword held in both hands. Ruby swapped the scythe back into its blade form, swishing it back and forth, then attacked. Jaune stumbled back, blocking as Ruby advanced. 

"Who are you?" he asked. "What are you-- _oof--_ doing?"

"What I have to," Ruby said quietly. He swung at her, and she dispersed into a cloud of rose petals. The sword passed through empty air, hitting the ground. Then Ruby appeared behind him, sword raised to hit him. Pyrrha's shield hit her in the face, and she staggered, clutching her face, a cut across her face. The blood trickled, blackish red. It disappeared, the cut healing. 

"Jaune, run!" Pyrrha cried, her free hand falling to the ground. 

"Why don't you just die now," Ruby growled, pointing her sword at Pyrrha. Jaune jumped in the way, stabbing her through the stomach. He pulled his blade out, stumbling back. The blade was covered in a thick, sticky-black and red blood. Ruby stumbled back, the wound healing, blood disappearing. Her upper lip rose into a snarl. She hefted the blade as Jaune backed off. 

"What are you doing here?" Jaune asked again. "This..." He gestured to Pyrrha. "This doesn't accomplish anything."

"Sad thing is, sometimes senseless violence happens to be the answer," Ruby drawled, slowly. "Not like I want to be doing this, y'know."

"Then why are you doing it?" Jaune cried, hand to his head. 

Ruby bit her lip, then pointed her gun at him and fired. Jaune tried to deflect the sword, but found himself tugged out of the way by his armor. Pyrrha watched the bullet hit the plaster and begin smoking. She tried pushing the rubble off her, but it was too heavy, and she was pinned. Ruby took a deep breath, then said, "You know, those bullets are hard to get."

Jaune pointed his sword at her. "I don't want to fight you, Ruby."

Ruby shot him a look, red veins flashing in her face. "Really?" she spat. "You were the cause of my first death, Jaunie Boy."

"What?" Jaune blinked. "I don't understand." 

Ruby stepped towards him, cloak billowing and rose petals flaring around her. "Then allow me to enlighten you." She stopped, then growled. "Crap. How are they here already?" She shook her head, looking from Jaune to Pyrrha. Then she jumped out the broken window, disappearing in a burst of rose petals. Jaune bounced on his feet, then rushed over to Pyrrha, trying to lift the rubble off her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Pyrrha groaned. Jaune looked up as a person in a gray trenchcoat entered the room. They stepped over Pyrrha, only sparing her a glance. 

"Who are you?" Jaune demanded. He was ignored. 

"Holy shit," Coco's voice came from the stairway. As she rushed over, she said, "What happened here?" Afterwards rushed in team RWBY and Velvet. Except...

"What is going on?" Jaune cried. "What was up with the evil Ruby?"

The person in the coat plucked a bullet of the ground. "Okay," he said. "She was here. But it looks like we missed her."

"The Night Haunt?" Ruby asked. Jaune pointed his sword at her. She stepped back in alarm, hands in the air. Jaune looked at her sleeves. No eye insignia. With a sigh, he dropped his sword. "Who is the Night Haunt?" he asked. 

"Um...evil me from another dimension?" Ruby said slowly. "Torchwick-level murderer."

"She is so far beyond simple acts of terrorism," Star said, tossing the bullet into the air. 

"Is he a guy?" Jaune asked Ruby quietly. 

"I think?" Ruby said with a slight shrug. 

"I heard that," Star said, pointing at them. "But, uh, I actually get that a lot. Apparently, I'm quite androgynous-looking." Quick as a flash, his sword was out, and a bullet hit the wall. "And...that's what happens when you have an insta-kill sniper rifle." He walked backwards, sword raised. It had a cross-shaped handle, but the more noticeable fact was that the air around it had no color. Just a blazing white trail through the air as he moved it. "Keep up your guard," he said slowly. 

Weiss stabbed her sword into the ground, creating a barrier of ice over the middle of the hallway. "There," she said. 

"Good. From what we know, those bullets are hard to get," Star said, not sheathing his sword or turning away from the ice barrier. "She most likely won't waste any clearing this."

Yang lent Jaune a hand, easily lifting some of the larger rocks off of Pyrrha. Blake stepped in, picking up the redhead and moving her aside. Pyrrha, once let go, collapsed with a groan and a wince. Jaune stepped over her, extending a hand. Pyrrha took it, rising shakily to her feet. "Both our shields are on the other side of that." She nodded to the ice barrier. 

Then Weiss's scroll rang. "Ruby?" she said, confused. 

Ruby pulled out her scroll, then shook her head. "I didn't call you."

"The Night Haunt did," Star interrupted. "Answer it."

Weiss answered the scroll, then set it down on a rock. "Weiss Schnee."

The scroll buzzed for a second. "It's been so long since I've heard that voice," Ruby's voice drawled over the scroll. 

"That's freaky," Ruby said with a shudder. 

"I presume you're the Night Haunt?" Weiss asked. 

"My reputation precedes me," came the reply. "Yes. I chose that name for myself." After a pause, she added, with humor tinging her voice, "Don't wear it out."

"What are you doing here?" Weiss demanded. 

"Straight to the point, Miss Schnee," the Night Haunt chuckled. "I am here to kill people."

"As you always are," Star said. "Question is, why?"

"Here's a question for _you,_ Ravenwing," the Night Haunt countered, "why are they in jail?"

For a brief second, Star looked confused. Then he said, "Your teammates?"

The Night Haunt didn't reply. 

"I dunno, maybe the fact that they murdered dozens of people?" Coco said, putting her sleeveless hand on her hip. "The only reason you aren't with them is because you weren't with them when Goldenclaw caught them."

"Ah, Goldenclaw," the Night Haunt said, nostalgia evident in her tone. "Nothing was ever funner to break down than those self-righteous bastards."

"We were heroes," Coco growled. 

"Let me tell you, so were we," the Night Haunt hissed. "Me and Weiss, Blake and Yang. All it took was one person giving the order, and we were suddenly wanted women. We hadn't turned evil--we simply weren't what he thought of as 'humans'." She made a disgusted noise. "Ozpin wanted us dead. We killed him. Goldenclaw came in, and assumed we were the bad guys. We were no longer hunted only by humans and faunus, but by the entirety of Goldenclaw as well. So we snagged some tech from the corpses of some of their fighters, and began to run. Of course, they eventually caught us, no matter where we went. But it was all for nothing. The Silver Reaper caught them."

"You killed more than Goldenclaw agents," Star interrupted. "You're only fooling yourself if you say you didn't just kill anyone who ticked you off."

The Night Haunt paused before continuing. "We were only trying to live," she said quietly. "No one would have died without Goldenclaw's intervention."

"Jokes on you, Goldenclaw was disbanded, so you don't have to worry about exacting vengeance," Star muttered. 

"The Silver Reaper, Roman Torchwick, and dear, departed Ozpin," the Night Haunt said. "Yes, the leaders, the 'heroes' of the new world order."

"They are heroes!" Velvet snapped, clenching her fists. 

"If every idiot with a gun were a hero," the Night Haunt drawled, "we wouldn't need Huntsmen, would we? Except they tried to kill us. Trust me, team RWBY. The moment you contradict his beliefs, Ozpin will have you killed."

"Maybe in your world," Ruby said, stepping over to the scroll. "And I'm sorry that you've had a bad life. But you can't take out your anger on everyone who didn't hurt you. It's not right."

A moment's silence. "You're sorry for me?" She sounded amused. "Well then. I'm sorry for _this._ "

The Night Haunt landed behind Ruby, through the hole in the ceiling and kicked her in the back. Ruby flung forward, hitting Weiss's ice barrier, which cracked. 

Blake leapt in, attacking with Gambol Shroud and her sheath. The Haunt blocked the sword, stepped aside as the sheath missed her, a smile splitting her face as she kicked Blake's stomach. Blake leapt back, using her semblance, then ducked beneath a bullet that shot over her head. Coco stepped in, swinging her bag. The Night Haunt blocked, swinging at Coco's face. Coco blocked with her bag, and the Night Haunt hooked onto the bag with her sword. She swung herself over Coco's head, kneeing Coco's back. Coco flung forward, into Weiss's lunge. Weiss tried to abort her attack, but not in time, throwing Coco back at the Night Haunt, who threw Coco at Ruby with a sweeping kick. The two women shattered through Weiss's ice barrier. 

Yang leapt over, swinging at the Night Haunt, who ducked beneath her punch. Yang kicked up at her, but the Night Haunt used the blow to propel herself into the ceiling, then lunged for Pyrrha. Pyrrha stepped aside, seeing the Night Haunt's demonic grin as she passed. The Night Haunt landed on her hands, somersaulted onto her feet, firing. Pyrrha blocked with her sword, then charged forward, attacking. Her sword met the Night Haunt's, who shoved her back, attacking. Pyrrha leaned back out of range, then jumped in, kicking at her. The Night Haunt blocked the flurry of blows with her sword, then spun around, attacking. Pyrrha ducked, but was kicked down anyway. Jaune leapt in, blocking a fatal blow to Pyrrha and shoving the attacker back. The Night Haunt stumbled back, glaring at him. Then a bullet hit her head, bouncing off her Aura. Star leapt forward, attacking with a series of slashes. The Night Haunt leapt around him, and he pivoted on one foot to slash down at her. She met his blade, then rolled around him again, firing. He blocked with his sword, using his other hand to shoot with his revolver. 

The Night Haunt spun her sword around, blocking the bullets as she leapt onto her feet, observing the room. She grimaced. "How are you all still alive?" she muttered. 

Ruby hefted Crescent Rose, Coco her purse. The Night Haunt bit her lip. With a flick of her hand, Pyrrha sent one of the collapsed metal beams flying into the Night Haunt, who was thrown back through a wall, smashing through the plaster. Yang leapt through the hole in the wall after her. The Night Haunt rolled away from the punch, looking for her sword. The blade had landed in the room's TV. She ducked beneath Yang's punch, then caught her wrist as it passed her head. The Night Haunt spun herself behind Yang, hitting in-between the brawler's shoulder blades. Yang cried out as the Night Haunt leapt over Yang's hand, kicking Yang's face. She pulled Yang off balance, kneeing her stomach, then threw Yang into Blake, knocking the two back outside the room as she retrieved her sword. She jumped out the window, landing on a staircase up the side of the apartment building as Ruby rushed after her. The scythe's blade rotated, converting into a naginata as the Huntress-in-training attacked. The Night Haunt stepped aside, knocking the blade aside and going for Ruby's head. Crescent Rose hooked around a staircase, and Ruby propelled herself onto the stairs above the Night Haunt, who turned into a cloud of rose petals and reappeared over Ruby's head. Ruby ducked back as the blade missed her face by inches, then the Night Haunt kicked at her. Ruby ducked beneath, then swung with her scythe. The Night Haunt leapt over the attack, kicking Ruby in the face. Ruby stumbled back, barely bringing her scythe up in time to block the sword. The Night Haunt turned her sword into a scythe, the larger weapon knocking Ruby off the stairs. Ruby hooked onto the steps with Crescent Rose, swinging herself back up to fight the Night Haunt. 

She found herself looking right down the Night Haunt's gun. 

"That's the problem with heroes," she said. "They never give up."

Ruby knew the only thing that kept her from dying there was Weiss, who propelled herself into the Night Haunt with a white glyph. Both tumbled off the staircase, and Ruby leapt after them as they hit the ground. 

Weiss landed on top of the Night Haunt with a crack, small pieces of concrete flying into the air as the heiress back-flipped off of the murderer. The Night Haunt barely spun out of the way before Ruby's scythe hit where she'd been. Ruby jumped back, sliding over to Weiss as the two faced off against the Night Haunt. The Night Haunt glared at them. Then, she pushed a button on her watch. A glowing silver portal opened up in front of her and she stepped through it. 

"Did we win?" Ruby asked. 

"As much as we've ever won against her," Star called out. 

They'd gathered in their room, holding ice packs to their numerous bruises. Star had gathered up all of the Night Haunt's missed bullets, and put them in a pouch, which he held in front of him. "Thanks. I imagine that wouldn't have gone so well without your help."

"What...happened to her?" Weiss asked. "I can't think of anything that would make Ruby evil."

"For whatever reason," Velvet explained, "she turned part Grimm in her world. Her and her team RWBY. Ozpin...tried to take her down, and when Goldenclaw arrived, all we saw was a small team of monsters burning Beacon to the ground. But then, they'd managed to get off-world, and...things escalated."

Star shrugged, pocketing the bullets. "We don't know what she's planning. All we know is that it involves the special Dust she uses, and its strange ability to just kill anyone it hits. She has a plan. The only counter we have right now is just making her waste as many bullets as possible." He smiled. "Thanks to you guys and your incredible skills of evasion, she wasted quite a few." He tossed a card to Ruby. "If you ever need help with an inter-dimensional threat, don't hesitate to call."

"Thanks." Ruby looked from the card to Star. "So...how many other dimensions are there where I'm evil?"

"That we know of?" Star thought that through. "I can count three off the top of my head, including the 'Haunt."

Velvet reached up and pointed to the stub of her right bunny ear. "It was an evil Yang that did this," she said. "Ripped it right off."

Yang shuddered. 

"Multiverse isn't all bad," Star said. "There's a good Roman Torchwick, good Salem. Just as many good people as bad people."

Ruby nodded. "Yeah. I guess...I just never thought about it before."

Star pushed a button his watch, opening up a portal. "Well, duty calls." With a two-fingered salute, he disappeared with Coco and Velvet. 

**Author's Note:**

> The character of the Night Haunt was inspired by this AMV by Apotheosis. He/she is great at AMV making, and this one is what got me started with RWBY AMVs. 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmoX-a5potI


End file.
